Sports

Philadelphia Phillies World Series 2009 Recap

They say money can’t buy happiness, but I guess they weren’t talking about Yankee fans. Money bought Yankee fans the happiness of a World Series Championship. Yes, the 2009 Yankees are the best steroid-tainted team that unlimited amounts of money can buy. I think the very soul of baseball died the other night.

OK, OK, enough Yankee bashing. The Yankees played better than the Phillies in this World Series and deserved to win. Neither team hit as well as everyone expected though, which is a shock considering they were the two top offensive teams in all of baseball. The difference in the series turned out to be clutch hitting, which the Yankees had more of, and pitching. The Yankees had the best pitcher in the entire series in Mariano Rivera.

Yes, Cliff Lee was almost unhittable for the Phillies (2-0, 2.81 ERA, 13 Ks in 16 innings over his two starts), but Rivera was better for the Yankees. Rivera only got two saves in his 4 appearances and 5-1/3 innings, but when he came in - the game was over. He allowed zero runs in this World Series and only seemed to get better at the age of 41.

Let’s take a look at each game.

Game 1 - The Ut-LEE Show

A 6-1 win for the Phillies thanks to a dominating pitching performance by Cliff Lee and 2 home runs by Chase Utley. The Yankees didn’t even get a run until Jimmy Rollins made an error in the 9th-inning. All the media were fawning over CC Sabathia, but Cliff Lee proved who the better pitcher was. Sabathia pitched well, but he gave up those two bombs to Chase Utley and that’s all the cushion Lee needed for the win.

Game 2 - Who’s Your Daddy?

The big story leading up to Game 2 was Pedro Martinez facing the Yankees again. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell AJ Burnett that he wasn’t supposed to be the star of the game. Burnett completely baffled the Phillies hitters while striking out 9 in 7 innings. Pedro Martinez wasn’t bad in giving up 3 runs in 6 innings, but he gave up a couple of HRs to Teixeira and Matsui. Mariano Rivera came in and got the last 6 outs to save the win for Burnett and even up the series at 1 game apiece.

Game 3 - Rain on Me

The last time there was a World Series game in Philadelphia the weather was so bad the game had to be completed over three nights. This time, there was rain again and the start of Game 3 was delayed by 1 hour, 20 minutes. When the game finally got underway, Jayson Werth led the early scoring by hitting the first of his two home runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Too bad this is 2009 and the last time Cole Hamels was a good pitcher the calendar read 2008. Hamels got flustered his 2nd time through the Yankees lineup and got crushed for 5 runs in 4-1/3 innings. The game will always be remembered as the first World Series game to use instant replay. A-Rod hit a TV camera in the right field corner that was originally ruled a double. The umpires consulted the replay and correctly changed the call to a 2-run homer. Hamels’ fragile little ego was toast after that. The Phillies added a few late runs to keep it close, but their bullpen couldn’t stop the Yankees from scoring in a 8-5 Yankees win. Suddenly, the momentum had shifted to the Yankees as they took a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 - Out on a Lidge

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose to not use Cliff Lee on 3 days rest like Joe Girardi did with CC Sabathia and it cost the Phillies. Instead, he went with Joe Blanton, who gave up 4 runs in 6 innings. That’s not bad, but CC Sabathia went 6-2/3 innings and only gave up 3. He did give up another HR to Chase Utley who was starting to make CC his personal bitch, but that was hardly the story here. The Phillies clawed their way back into the game and tied it at 4 by getting a run in the 7th inning and another one in the 8th. Then Charlie made the worst mistake in the history of the World Series. He brought in Brad Lidge in the top of the 9th inning. Lidge went from a perfect 48 for 48 in save opportunities in 2008 to leading MLB in blown saves in 2009. He was not the same pitcher this season, but Charlie kept throwing him out there. Then the inevitable happened.

Lidge actually got two outs and had two strikes on Johnny Damon, before giving up a single. Then with that awful shift on for Mark Teixeira, Damon stole 2nd base. What happened next was one of the strangest plays you will ever see. Since the Phillies were in the shift, with 3B Pedro Feliz essentially playing SS, he took the throw from catcher Carlos Ruiz at 2B. Being a smart player, Damon then took off for 3B. Since Feliz was standing at 2B and nobody was covering 3B, Damon stole two bases at once. Lidge then completely fell apart as he plunked Teixeira, gave up and RBI double to A-Rod and a 2 RBI single to Posada. The Phillies, who looked to be conjuring up one of their patented comeback wins, were completely deflated and lost the game 7-4. If only Charlie had listened to me months ago and not let Lidge pitch anymore meaningful innings.

Game 5 - The Ut-Lee Show, Part Two

Facing elimination, Cliff Lee and Chase Utley decided to win another game all by themselves. Lee was far from dominating this time around, but he pitched well enough to win. Yankees manager Joe Girardi’s plan of only using 3 pitchers was looking less and less like a stroke of genius in this game as AJ Burnett got annihilated on 3 days rest. He only lasted 2+ innings and gave up 6 runs. Utley added 2 more HRs, which tied him with Reggie Jackson ( born and raised in Cheltenham, PA, just outside the city limits of Philadelphia, which is also the hometown of yours truly) for the most home runs in a World Series with 5. The 2 bombs and Utley’s 4 RBIs paced the Phillies’ attack that had been largely missing up to this point in the Series. When the time came for Manuel to use a reliever to close out the game in the 9th in a save opportunity, he went to Ryan Madson instead of Brad Lidge. It wasn’t pretty, but Madson nailed down the save and the series headed back to New York.

Game 6 - Oh No! Godzilla!

Pedro was back on the mound in the Bronx and Andy Pettitte was pitching on short rest again. Those classy fellows at the NY Post even had a picture of Pedro as a baby on their front page. They definitely love to hate Pedro in New York. Well, now we no longer have to wonder exactly who Pedro’s “Daddy” is. It’s Hideki Matsui. Matsui, the World Series MVP, hit a 2-run bomb off Pedro in the 2nd inning and then added a 2-run single off him in the 3rd. Matsui tied a World Series record with 6 RBIs in the game. It was like Pedro was a tiny Japanese man being trampled as Godzilla stomped on the city of Tokyo. Pettite wasn’t great, but he was good enough to get the win. He was the first pitcher to ever close out the Division Series, League Championship Series and the World Series in the same postseason. Ryan Howard finally decided to hit a home run, but he also set the record for most strikeouts in a World Series with 13. Not good. Rivera didn’t officially get the save, but he closed the door on the game and the series by getting the last 5 outs and finishing the series with a 0.00 ERA in 5-1/3 innings.

There are many reasons why the Yankees won. I still feel that the Phillies should have won the game, but the Yankees players came through in the clutch and the Phillies players did not. In the end, that’s what makes a Champion.

After striking out six times in the first two games, A-Rod starting hitting for the Yankees. Matsui put on a show, going 8-13 (.615) with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs, even though he didn’t start any of the 3 games in Philly, where there was no DH. Jeter and Damon got on base at the top of the Yankee order, which is exactly what you need from the top of your batting order. Teixeira, Cano, Swisher, and Cabrera contributed next to nothing and it didn’t even matter. The Yankees pitchers weren’t great, but they kept their team in the games long enough to win the series.

The Phillies on the other hand were pitiful. The team that was 2nd in MLB in runs scored and HRs, was nowhere to be found. Sure, the Phillies hit more HRs than the Yankees in this series, but most were solo shots. That would be because Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino were hardly on base at all during the series. Each one only scored 3 runs and only Rollins stole a base (3). I thought the Phillies could run on Posada and they hardly even tried. Big mistake. Raul Ibanez, Jayson Werth, and Carlos Ruiz all chipped in for the Phillies and I already told you what a record-setting World Series Chase Utley had, but it wasn’t enough. The Phillies couldn’t get the timely hits that you need to win and they normally got during the regular season and in the 1st two rounds of the playoffs. Any Phillies pitcher not named Cliff Lee just wasn’t good enough. 2008 heroes Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge couldn’t have been any worse.

It all added up to a World Series Championship for the Yankees and it makes me sick. I can’t believe I have to wait 3 months until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training again.

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